Demos seek probe of TSA spending

WASHINGTON — Two senior House Democrats called Thursday for an investigation into Transportation Security Administration spending after a new report documenting lavish spending by the agency was released.

Reps. David Obey, D-Wis., and Martin Sabo, D-Minn., sent a letter to Richard Skinner, the Homeland Security Department's acting inspector general, seeking TSA contract audits.

The request was prompted by a Skinner report released this week that found the TSA allowed some people to approve contracts even though they hadn't received training to do so.

"This is a recipe for contracting disaster and financial abuse," wrote Obey, ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, and Sabo, ranking Democrat on the committee's Homeland Security subcommittee. "We need to understand the size of the problem quickly."

A Skinner spokeswoman said the request is being reviewed.

The report issued by Skinner found extravagant spending on TSA's new crisis management center in suburban Washington. Among the items: a $350,000 fitness center with a towel laundry service for 79 employees who work there, $500,000 to acquire artwork, silk flowers and other items, and refrigerators that cost $3,000 apiece.

Skinner's report also cited improper use of government purchase cards, and unethical and possibly illegal activities by federal employees.

TSA's spending practices have brought the agency considerable criticism from lawmakers in both parties. Government investigations into the TSA's expenditures showed the agency spent nearly $500,000 on an awards ceremony for its employees and $418,000 for an office suite for its then-chief, John Magaw. The agency also paid for job recruiters to stay at lavish hotels, sometimes for weeks at a time.

TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield Jr. said the agency has matured since it was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and engaged in a frenzied effort take over airport security at about 450 airports within a year.

"The lack of structure and financial controls in TSA's early days was the cause for many of the problems we have found in audits of purchases during that period," Hatfield said. "Now in our fourth year we have the infrastructure in place that guards against those types of errors and abuses."